Full Text of SJR0041 94th General Assembly
SJ0041 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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SJ0041 |
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| SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Members of the United States Armed Forces and | 3 |
| their families are stationed at various military installations | 4 |
| throughout the United States; and
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| WHEREAS, The children of those military families attend | 6 |
| local schools operated by local public school districts; and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, The presence of a federal military activity in a | 8 |
| school district increases enrollment in the district but also | 9 |
| reduces the local tax base by removing property from the tax | 10 |
| rolls; and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, School districts also lose tax revenues (i) | 12 |
| through the provisions granted military personnel by the | 13 |
| Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940 and (ii) as a | 14 |
| result of military families shopping in commissaries and | 15 |
| exchanges and thus not paying local sales taxes; and | 16 |
| WHEREAS, Congress enacted Impact Aid legislation | 17 |
| establishing the federal government's responsibility to | 18 |
| provide financial assistance to school districts on which the | 19 |
| government places a financial burden; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, Impact Aid payments are provided from the federal | 21 |
| Department of Education to local public school districts that | 22 |
| educate "federally connected" students, and approximately 40% | 23 |
| of those Impact Aid funds go to districts educating the | 24 |
| children of military families; and | 25 |
| WHEREAS, Impact Aid supplements are made available from the | 26 |
| Department of Defense to help school districts with significant | 27 |
| concentrations of military students deal with the consequences | 28 |
| of an inadequate local funding base, challenges associated with | 29 |
| base closures and realignments, deteriorating families, and |
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SJ0041 |
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LRB094 12080 DRJ 45282 r |
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| inadequate Impact Aid funding; and | 2 |
| WHEREAS, The Department of Defense Impact Aid supplement is | 3 |
| needed to provide military children with the level of | 4 |
| educational opportunity available to children in neighboring, | 5 |
| non-federally impacted school districts; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL | 7 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | 8 |
| CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge Congress to take all steps | 9 |
| necessary, by means of substantive legislation and by means of | 10 |
| appropriation, to provide adequate Impact Aid and Impact Aid | 11 |
| supplement funding to the Department of Education and the | 12 |
| Department of Defense to ensure that the children of military | 13 |
| families attending local public schools receive the same level | 14 |
| of educational opportunity available to children in | 15 |
| neighboring, non-federally impacted school districts; and be | 16 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this Resolution be sent | 18 |
| to the President of the United States Senate, the Minority | 19 |
| Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United | 20 |
| States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the | 21 |
| United States House of Representatives, and each member of the | 22 |
| Illinois congressional delegation.
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